By Jennifer Langston
Herald Writer
EVERETT — A gunman in a second-floor window of a downtown apartment building was caught with police in a standoff late Tuesday night as authorities worked to defuse the situation and evacuate residents.
Officers worked methodically — constantly communicating where the man was in the window, which way he was facing, how he was armed — late into the night to resolve the situation.
Police responded to the Rockefeller Apartments at 1806 Hewitt Ave. after a single shot was reportedly fired inside at about 8:10 p.m. Tuesday.
John Lundberg, a resident, said he was sitting in his room watching "The Practice" on TV when he heard something like a firecracker go off. He thought he saw smoke around his sink across the room, which turned out to be plaster raining down.
"I thought at first something I did blew up," Lundberg said. "Then I saw a hole in my wall."
A gun apparently had been fired from the apartment next door, sending a bullet 4 feet from Lundberg’s head and into the ceiling.
Other residents gathered in the hallway after the initial shot, comparing notes about a man holed up in the room who had been arguing with his mother earlier in the day, Lundberg said.
Officers first responding to the scene saw the bullet hole and decided to back off, allowing other officers in tactical gear to go in.
Four shots were fired as they approached the suspect’s apartment, according to Everett police Sgt. Boyd Bryant.
The tactical officers also decided to pull back and begin evacuating residents. At least eight residents got out almost immediately, and by 9:30 p.m. it was reported that all residents had been led away.
The suspect’s mother told police that she believed her son may be wearing a bulletproof vest and may be armed with a Colt CAR-15, a gun that resembles a military assault rifle.
Police closed down Hewitt Avenue from Rockefeller Avenue to Oakes Avenue during the incident. They waved cars and pedestrians away, trying to keep anyone from passing in front of the building.
The apartments are located above the Loaner Pawnshop.
"The next step is to contact (the suspect) and negotiate his surrender," Bryant said late Tuesday night.
You can call Herald Writer Jennifer Langston at 425-339-3452 or send e-mail to langston@heraldnet.com.
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